Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Republican Sen. Rob Portman says he does not understand why Ukraine should not receive MiG-29 fighter jets when it has already been supported in other ways by the US and its NATO allies.q
According to Press TV, his remarks come after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday the United States did not support Poland’s proposal to transfer the aging MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, arguing that such a measure can escalate tensions with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier urged the US to establish “no-fly zones” over Ukraine and requested additional MiG-29 jets for his own country following the Russian military operation there.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, warned that it would lead to catastrophic consequences. Putin ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region on February 24 to “defend people” subjected to “genocide” there against the government forces, stressing that Moscow has “no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Portman, when asked if he is worried that Poland giving planes to Ukraine could trigger World War III, said, “I don’t know why that would be true.”
He said he does not understand why Moscow would perceive sending fighter jets to Ukraine as a larger escalation in comparison to other ways the US and NATO allies have supported Kiev.
“Putin has said that the sanctions are an act of war. They certainly complained when we provided Stingers directly from the US government, which can knock down an airplane,” Portman said.
“We have given them helicopters. As recently as January, we provided them US military helicopters. And those are directly from the United States. In this case, this would be Poland providing these airplanes, which are Soviet-style planes, old planes, MiG-29s. There are also two other countries, Slovakia and Bulgaria, that have these airplanes,” he added.
